Importance Of Diversity In The Classroom

I realized that accepting differences and valuing diversity is what helps me become a more dynamic and flexible as a future teacher. Especially when it comes to teach a diverse classroom, recognizing pluralism and divergent perspectives on educating students is the foundation of designing effective lessons and instructional practices for diverse students. (CSU San Marcos, 2017, p.4) If a child has a hard time to show his or her real identity, it will be misleading for teachers to design an appropriate instructional activates. The refusal to acknowledge differences often results in schools and teachers labeling children’s behaviors as “deficient” ( Nieto& Bode, 2008) I think my experience and my diverse

The United States population is filled with diverse individuals. It is important for educators to understand that diversity in classrooms is not just based on race but ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, economic status, learning disabilities, and etc. It may not affect your student directly but it can be a part of their family background. Educators may assume that students have the same social or educational status of each other which in some cases is not true. If they assume that every student is on the same academic level, the students may suffer educationally or emotionally. Teachers need to understand that all students grow and progress at different times and it is up to an educator to help start their growth in the right direction and to make each child feel accepted. Yale University () discussed how it can affect teachers if they do not understand how to assess diversity, “teachers may themselves feel out of place based on their own ascriptive traits (i.e. differences based on class, privilege, etc.).” Diversity in classrooms is becoming more frequent and educators need to understand how to properly assess their student’s based on their educational needs and how to teach other students how each of them are different individually. There is no right choice to teach diversity but it is something that needs to implemented in classrooms.

Poverty is a serious issue which our society and children faces every day. It is a constant struggle that shouldn’t be ignored. UNICEF states “The study of OECD countries in 2007, over fourteen percent of Australian children under the age of eighteen are currently living in households who are defined as poor or with incomes less than half of the median national income”. The increase in the number and percentage of children living in poverty within our society has contributed to making today's classrooms more diverse than ever it has been. This highlights and makes both teaching and learning more challenging. Diversity exists in the students who are living in poverty and the education assistant and teachers must provide the concept of diversity

Students have their own best way in effectively learning the lesson. With the diversity of students, the problem is each student has a preferred learning style. It becomes undeniably one of the reasons that make it difficult to achieve the best expected outcome out of teachers’ effort. However, teachers try to incorporate various teaching techniques to make every learning opportunity become productive, meaningful, and relevant for the learners.

Race, religion, culture, language, and disability are a few of the many forms of diversity that we see in classrooms around us. Diversity, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, is “the condition or quality of being diverse, different, or varied; difference, unlikeness” (OED, n.3.d.). Each student in the classroom is going to have varied abilities, needs, and interests. As the teacher, he or she will utilize multiple teaching methods in order to meet the needs of every individual in the classroom. Some faculty has reported that teachers are failing to make little or no changes in their classroom operations to handle issues concerning diversity (Pasque, Chesler, Charbeneau, & Carlson, 2013, p. 1). By following guidelines to accommodate each student in the classroom, it is imperative that the teacher designates different abilities, interests, and tasks to help the students succeed and achieve their goals.

Diversity in the classroom can come in many forms, these include but are not limited to differences in language, culture, social status, religion, and learning styles. As educators, it will be our job to make sure that we are able to support our diverse students in their learning, and it is also essential that we make our classroom a place where diversity is accepted and all students feel safe engaging in the learning. Not all students that we encounter will have been exposed to diversity and it is our job to help them recognize that underneath all the differences, there are so many important similarities. The best way to do this according to Matthew Lynch “is to provide students with ample evidence that people that don’t look like them are, at the core, people just like them. Such a viewpoint can be taught by promoting a culture of learning from one another rather than a culture of passing judgment on differences in values and beliefs” (2012). By teaching our students to embrace diversity, we are creating an environment where all our students can thrive.

Before a teacher can accept and embrace diversity in the classroom, he or she must reflect on the challenges that can interfere with acceptance (Dray & Wisneski, 2011). This statement, in my opinion, is powerful. As a matter of fact, to be capable of honestly executing this type of reflection, no matter what the answers look like, requires an extraordinary person. Educators with an appreciation and a tolerance for culturally different students, and who can replace prejudices, will considerably foster the chances for student accomplishment.

I am currently working in a Title 1 school. In the community I work in, diversity is extremely apparent. One of our largest diverse populations is found in the Haitian and Hispanic community. Being raised part Haitian, has created not only empathy and fair-mindedness for my students, but has brought awareness to their resilience in life. One major issue I think students of diverse populations face is the culture shock. As I previous mention, the Haitian community is well apparent in my school. Most people know that Haiti is not one of the richest places on earth, so therefore a student who is entering an American school for the first time can find it to be a bit overwhelming due to the culture changes. I know in my classroom, I pride myself in modifying my classroom for all students. I display this by presenting more visuals, Rosetta Stone program, Haitian-English or Spanish-English

There has been a clear notion on what is needed in today’s education and that is diversity in the classroom to include material in the curriculum that openly addresses diversity. Teachers need to be aware that being multicultural is important, adaptation is required and ability to provide students with a safe environment. Meanwhile, also understanding the student’s interest, culture, and background is vital in the student’s learning. For example, according to Karmeen (2013), “21st Century Teacher Educator” and “Teachers as “Healers”: 21 Century Possibility? Or Necessity?” by authors Whitfield and Klug (2004); both promote the ideas of including multicultural materials in the curriculum. They both agree that the reduction of prejudice and promotion of social justice is key. One should obtain the knowledge to understand and recognize what is unique among different groups that each student represent.

The United States is expecting drastic changes in the diversity of its population over the next 50 years. Minorities will become a larger portion of the country’s population. Changes will need to be made to the way our country operates, especially in education. New, innovative and inclusive ways of teaching will replace traditional methods. For these new changes to go smoothly, steps will be taken to implement diverse populations in schools, helping students benefit from the values of other cultures while learning to live along side each other. The competitive and biased curriculums will take back seat to new ones that cater to all members of the population, leaving behind

Diversity affects the classroom positively and makes people more effective by providing different perspectives, building connections, and preparing people for the real world. By providing different perspectives it allows the students to open their minds to other cultures in America that they have to yet discover. It also helps by shedding light on different religions that they feel more welcome and they might want to conform to it. Diversity also helps students build connections with each other. This might lead to people to discover what they might have in common within each other’s cultures. Diversity also helps build connections between students and teachers, because teachers also have to make sure to be careful on what they say so they

Diversity is what makes each person in a classroom different from each other, even though you could be the same color of the person sitting next you, does not mean you are the same. The classroom environment should look and feel welcoming for all children. So it can show the diversity of the world in which we live in. Children should be provided with essential information about who they are and what is important, making an effort for this to happen creates a setting that is rich in possibilities for exploring the diversity of each student in a classroom across the world. A few of the educational practices today is geared towards supporting and eliminating ethnic differences between students in classrooms today.

For me I experienced diversity my whole life. Growing up moving all along the West Coast, going to schools ranging from Arizona to California to Washington state, diversity in these public schools were always a normal experience in classrooms, some places more prevalent than others. All of my teachers growing up did a great job of pointing out that diversity was present within the classroom, and that though were all different we need to treat each other as equal. It wasn’t until later in my schooling career that I realized that some of my peers who were “different” and “diverse” were experiencing not only different lifestyles, but hardships due to these differences. I came to realization that is not a problem that schools face alone but society

As a teacher it is important to make sure the classroom atmosphere is comfortable in order to ensure productivity. Teaching students that differences are a good thing and those differences can be learned from and valued is a way to help ensure a positive classroom environment. As a teacher I will help my students understand biases, and I will help them be able to accept differences and treat people fairly by educating them about the differences of the people around them. I believe there are many ways a teacher can incorporate diversity lessons into the classroom. Overall, I believe that teaching students to respect each other despite their differences will benefit the students, the teachers, and the rest of the world. Diversity is an important topic today because everyone is different and unique; as a teacher I understand that I will never be in a school that is not a diverse teaching environment. I think that by taking this diversity class, it has helped me to realize and understand the importance diversity in the classroom and the community has to

Once students and teachers are aware of cultural differences, they become aware of racism and can fight to eradiate it. Through their unbiased understanding of the differences between cultures and races, they are able to come to a point of acceptance of themselves and others. If you noticed in my previous paragraph, I mentioned the different types of diversity. Diversity emphasizes how different students and teachers are, but when explored in a classroom, can be used to reveal our similarities. Once students and teachers grasp the concept of diversity, displayed through everyday interactions with diverse groups of students and teachers, racism begins to disappear. In addition, positive sense of self can be developed once students and teachers have an understanding of their own uniqueness through experiences and understanding of diversity. Once teachers and students